A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 1103 



(<?) The potential taxability of national-forest lands, i. e., the 

 acreage which probably would be privately appropriated if the 

 national forests did not exist; the probable assessed valuation of such 

 land if privately owned; the probable tax yield; and the probable 

 return per acre distributed over all national-forest lands in the unit. 



(f) The average annual cost of national-forest administration by 

 separate activities during the preceding 5-year period. 



(g) The present cost to States, counties, and private owners of road 

 and trail construction and maintenance; protection of forest lands 

 against fire, insects, and disease; protection of fish and game; mainte- 

 nance of schools for residents within national-forest boundaries; 

 enforcement of civil and criminal processes; and assessment and 

 collection of taxes on lands within national-forests. 



(h) An estimate of what the above-described costs to States, coun- 

 ties, and private owners would be if the national forests did not exist. 



(i) The extent and cost of present State or county activities in forest 

 protection. 



The project as planned did not contemplate field studies or ap- 

 praisals of land. The Forest Service had neither the men nor money 

 with which to examine private or State and county holdings, and data 

 regarding national-forest lands were already available in the form of 

 a detailed land classification prepared pursuant to the act of August 

 10, 1912 (37 Stat. 287), and representing the results of eight or more 

 years of careful work by highly qualified members of the Forest Service 

 and other Bureaus of the Department of Agriculture. The study, 

 therefore, was confined to a compilation of pertinent facts and figures 

 from the best available State, county, Forest Service, and other rec- 

 ords from which the desired data could be secured without an undue 

 outlay of time or money. 



Experience proved the impossibility of making the study in the com- 

 plete detail originally contempletad. It was dependent in major part 

 upon the data available in State and county records, which vary widely 

 in methods of arrangement, in completeness, and in detail. In some 

 units, excellent records are maintained, consistent classifications of 

 property are used and adequate summaries or analyses are currently 

 compiled. In other units, records are poorly maintained and con- 

 fusing; division of taxable property into classes is not systematic or 

 consistent; specific summaries or analyses are not available; and 

 approximations based upon the best judgment of present official 

 incumbents sometimes were necessary. No facts were intentionally 

 omitted. Their absence, where it occurred, was because they were 

 not reasonably obtainable. 



For the reasons given, the figures herein presented are not regarded 

 as 100 percent accurate. In view, however, of the large numbers of 

 records consulted, and the tremendous acreages of private land, State 

 lands, etc., reported upon, the returns for all practicable purposes can 

 be accepted as dependable, since such doubtful cases or figures as may 

 exist can not make substantial difference in the major conclusions. 



Consideration of all phases of the study above outlined is not essen- 

 tial to this discussion. The data related to the granted or revested 

 lands under State or county control and the annual revenues derived 

 therefrom, or to the areas under administration as State forests and 

 the costs of such administration and their relation to income, afford 

 opportunities for many interesting comparisons. However, they do 

 not specifically apply to the national-forest lands herein discussed. 



